Ramekon O’Arwisters teaches self-healing through his art after it helped him through tough times.

He hosts Crochet Jam. He’s been doing it all over the country since 2012. O’Arwisters grew up in North Carolina and he said it was not always easy.

“Our backgrounds may be unpleasant and painful but it can be transformed in a positive way,” explained O’Arwisters. “Black and queer in the Jim Crow South in the 1960s.”

The artist is using the tools his family gave him to help others relax and have conversations. He describes himself as a social practice artist.

He focuses not so much on the craft but more on the freedom to do it. It is a feeling that hits home for him.

“My grandmother allowed me to break the rules when I was growing up in Jim Crow South,” O’Arwisters explained.

His mom and grandmother both quilted and his parents worked in a cotton factory, so his chosen art form is kind of sewn into the fabric of his life.

“Even though it’s fabric and even though it’s a wooden hook it can still be an experience beyond the materials that you’re using,” O’Arwisters expressed. “You can use art to heal and transform. Not just from art on the wall in a gallery, but in a community event like this. But in a community event like this where people can express themselves like this.”

O’Arwisters said he thinking his grandmother would be very proud of him.